Good cheap upgrade; what do you think?

[exar333]

I just purchased the following from Newegg:

VGA EVGA 512-P3-N802-A1 8800GT 512M - Retail $289.99
MEM 1Gx2|OCZ OCZ2RPR8002GK Reaper - Retail $75.99
MB MSI P35 Neo2-FR 775 - Retail $118.99
CPU INTEL|PDC E2160 1.8G 775 1M R - Retail $82.99

The total comes out to about 575.00; and closer to 500.00 if you take into account the 30.00 MB rebate and the 35.00 RAM rebate.

I seem to be with the majority here and either want to build a Penryn or Nehalem next year. These deals seemed too good to pass up considering the how inexpensive good P35 and E21XX CPU's are right now.

My older Enermax 485W PSU and 74GB Rapter should still hold up with these new components and give me a great new machine.


Being new to OC'ing C2D's, what do you expect me to get with my 7700 Zalman and these new parts? Do you think this will end up being a good upgrade for the cost? I am hoping to get a little bit of cash for my old DFI NF4/Winnie3200/7800GT/1GB OCZ Plat R2) (wow these seem so old now!)

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333
My older Enermax 485W PSU and 74GB Rapter should still hold up with these new components and give me a great new machine.

Don't be surprised if that PSU gives you problems, when trying to run an 8800GT.

Being new to OC'ing C2D's, what do you expect me to get with my 7700 Zalman and these new parts?

Have you already bought the Skt 775 adapter for your heatsink? If so, you should probably be able to max out your processor, before you overheat, as long as you turn the fan up to high.

 

[exar333]

How much more power will the 8800GT need compared to the 7800GT?

 

[customcoms]

What zalman 7700 do you have? My Zalman 7700 AlCu was hotter on a single core AMD64 3000+ @1.8ghz and 1.4v, full speed fan, mounted probably 3 times total (it was mounted properly, I am meticulous when it comes to cables and fans) than my Opteron 165 @ 2.7ghz with 1.3 volts and the stock amd 2 heatpipe cooler, full speed fan. Both readings are from coretemp, both processors mounted on my DFI Lanparty Ultra-D with Arctic Silver 5. I never bothered mounting the Zalman on my Opteron, mainly because the stock cooler was fine (now I'm pushing for the 3ghz this chip is capable of but need better cooling for that) and the temperatures were lower on a dual core cpu with stock cooler.

Now, if you have the 7700 all copper, I would definitely stick that on there, its better than the AlCu by several degrees and far better than the intel retail heatsink.

According to anandtech, the 7800GT consumes 236 watts at load: http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2496&p=10, while the 8800GT consumes 209 watts at load:http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3140&p=13

AKA, your psu will be fine.

 

[exar333]

It is the all copper heatsink, not the ALCU hybrid one. Overall, I have been very impressed with it's cooling abilities as is even it kept a 640 Presshot "relatively" cool! And by relatively cool, I mean that it did not throttle all the time...I don't miss those CPU's at all.

 

[json]

Looks pretty good

 

[adiv12121]

My setup is very similar and I think you will like it. I have my 2160 running at 3.0 ghz which it hit right of the box with no problems. Depending on what OS you run, you may need to upgrade to 2 gbs of RAM.

 

[themisfit610]

Yeah, don't worry about your PSU at all. It's more than enough for your system.

I ran an X2 with a bunch of drives, fans, and a 7800gt off an OLD Antec 450 for the better part of 2 years. Be not afraid

That should be an awesome upgrade. I just got my q6600 up to 3 GHz. I couldn't wait for Penryn

~MiSfit

 

[nomorepwnage]

Thats a good build, basicially same as mine except i have the corsair 450watter and ds3 gigabyte mobo. Its going to be a great budget gaming system!

 

[exar333]

It is really nice to be able to build a decent gaming rig for a good price again! I can't remember exactly when so many good CPU's and GPU's were available for $100-$250. RAM being so cheap is a boon as well. It's certainly a win for all of us!

 

[toadeater]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333
It is really nice to be able to build a decent gaming rig for a good price again!

Cheap P35 OCing mobo $85-$100
2GB DDR2 RAM $50
E21x0 $70-90
Total: ~$240


8800 GTS 2.0
Total: $350

$240 vs. $350.

$350. That's the price of an XBox w/ 2 free games.

So you might want to reconsider the "bargain" we're getting right now. Nvidia, ATI, stop bull****ing us with your "DX10" hype. Maybe you had everyone fooled in 2005, but you're still charging the same price for two year-old technology in 2007. No wonder PC gaming is "dying," gamers can afford to upgrade $300 GPUs every year!

You hear that, Nvidia? You're killing your own market with your price-fixing schemes.

 

[harpoon84]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: ExarKun333
My older Enermax 485W PSU and 74GB Rapter should still hold up with these new components and give me a great new machine.

Don't be surprised if that PSU gives you problems, when trying to run an 8800GT.

Why do you say that? My 480W Antec Neo (which is around 2 years old) runs my 8800GTS 320 just fine, and that pulls more power than a 8800GT.

Enermax make quality PSUs too, it's not like he's running a 'yumcha' 500W PSU.

 

[exar333]

Got the parts today!

So far I am stable right at over 3.0, but my CPU does NOT like extra voltage. The default was 1.125 and anything over 1.15 makes this thing too hot for my Zalman7700CU.

I am 2 hours+ Orthos Stable and did not exceed 63C.

Pretty happy so far, looking to tinker and see if i can bump this up a little bit. I want to find a good high speed to use for everyday gaming and such, not just to benchmark...

Any thoughts or pointers? I am new to C2D OCing...to be honest, I have never OC'd an Intel chip untiol today! I was able to stay away from the P4 Northwoods, but these C2D's are just too good to pass up...

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: harpoon84
Why do you say that? My 480W Antec Neo (which is around 2 years old) runs my 8800GTS 320 just fine, and that pulls more power than a 8800GT.

Because I didn't see that he had an older model Enermax. They were just about the best PSU manufacturer, back then. I know, I was their biggest supporter, and owned more than one of their PSU's from that era. Their quality, and capabilities have suffered, lately. I made the mistake of buying a 500 watt Liberty, to power an X2 4400 and X1900XT, and it couldn't do it, even with neither overclocked. When I replaced that PSU with a more powerful one, I had no more problems, even when I replaced the X2 with an Opteron 170 running @ 2.8 Ghz.[/quote]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333
Any thoughts or pointers?

Yeah, you'll probably need a better heatsink, if you're wanting to go much faster. Also, you'll want to lower your RAM speed, until you've found out how fast your CPU can go.

 

[Tempered81]

sounds like a sweet setup, and you should get some cash for the old parts too. id say 3.3 ghz ish on the cpu.

 

[mlhm5]

You have enough power to run any single video card plus your HD, fans, and your optical drives. If you are thinking about adding an additional video card, you will have to upgrade. Of course this assumes your present system is in good condition.

 

[Angerisagift]

don't be concerned about power, and don't listen to people suggesting 750w 40+ Amp power supplies for single card configs, I'm building a new system myself and will be getting

the Corsair VX450

future system

q6600 2.4Ghz
ECS 671-T motherboard (part of combo, may upgrade later)
XFX 8800GT 512MB
2 GB OCZ DDR2 800Mhz Dual Channel Kit
Corsair VX450 PSU

also keep in mind that benchmarks for power consumption are typically (including anandtech) Total System Usage, meaning the entire computer's total wattage use, meaning if you really wanted to you could run a single card rig on a 300 watter, as long as efficiency was decent and amperage was adequate.

 

[exar333]

So after spending some time with trial and error, the best speed so far seems to be 8x375FSB. = 3000. My temps top out just above 60 running the small FFT's for 2-3 hours. From what I have read this would be within acceptable limits...

Running at 9x335 pushed the temps closer to 68 or 69 with the same vcore of 1.15. Any lower and the system is not stable, any higher really increases temps.

To make a long story short, how can I be sure these temps I am reading are accurate? I hear a lot about inaccurate temp readings and would like to make sure I am running this CPU with valid readings to go by. Anyone suggest a specific program? I am using SiSoft Environment Monitor currently....

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Angerisagift
don't be concerned about power, and don't listen to people suggesting 750w 40+ Amp power supplies for single card configs

Who was it that suggested a 750 watt psu? I must have missed that.

Originally posted by: ExarKun333

Running at 9x335 pushed the temps closer to 68 or 69 with the same vcore of 1.15. Any lower and the system is not stable, any higher really increases temps.

If that thing will run 3.0 Ghz at less than it's VID, I suggest getting yourself a better heatsink, so you can run it @ 3.6-4 Ghz.

To make a long story short, how can I be sure these temps I am reading are accurate?

Use CoreTemp .95.4.

 

[exar333]

Thanks for the advice. Is it common to see CoreTemp reading the temps 10-15 degrees cooler versus other monitoring programs?

I am really temped to get a better cooler for this chip. It seems to be hardly breaking a sweat at 3.0 and am still running at the VID of 1.15. I wonder what this guy chip could do at 1.3 or 1.4v...I have had Orthos running both cores with the small FFT's for 4 hours now and the CoreTemp is reading 47 for cores 0 and 1.

What cooler would be best for my chip? From the reviews I have seen for my MB, it suggests a cpu cooler with horizontal fans to keep the NB heatpipes/heatsinks cool. That would eliminate the 9500Zalman...

 

[exar333]

Got question here - I have my cpu set at 8x375-3000 and this is confirmed in both the BIOS and CPU-Z.

When I check XP "system" and the Core-temp program is stated my FSB is 421 x8=3375. Maybe I am missing something, but this doesnt make sense to me...

I am running my RAM at a 1:1 ratio and my board jumpers are set to the default 200mhz designator. I only changed the FSB in BIOS, not through anythis else.

 

[Zap]

Check it under latest CPU-Z. Core Temp also reported my E6750 wrong (higher FSB).

 

[Regalk]

Coretemp latest beta version is just what it is -->beta so there are probably bugs in the reporting of FSB and multiplier speeds. Speedfan has the same issue. CPU-z reports accurately.
Everest (latest ed) reports correctly (older version no).
Windows System information also reports incorrectly when a multiplier other than default is set.
Intel weirdness in the P35 chipset.
No such issues with AMD.

 

[exar333]

I was hoping it was just a reporting issue, thanks for the info!

 

[taltamir]

those are good deals? 90% of the 2x1GB ram modules are with 40$ mail in rebate... so they end up as 20 or 30$... even the high end ones... you bought one for 75$ and I don't see one of those... I would get 4GB anyways...

And the GT... 290$? you should get one from best buy (exact same video card... evga), with the coupon and tax and everything its 220$ or so...